Belt-coupling.



BEST AVAILABLE COP No. 805,359. PATENTEDINOV. 21, 1905.

. J. M. GREIST.

BELT COUPLING.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 14, 1905.

BEST AVAILABLE coP.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN M. GREIST, OF NEVV'HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

BELT-COUPLING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed January 14,1905. Serial No. 241,143.

leather belts, such as are largely used for driving sewing-machines, lathes, and other light machines; and the invention has for its object to provide a coupling device of such a character that it may be readily adjusted and a belt be shortened simultaneously with such adjustment when it is desired to shorten a belt for the purpose of taking up slack or for giving the belt a proper tension.

To this end the improved couplin comprises two members, both of which pre erably consist of internally-threaded sleeves adapted to be screwed onto the ends of a belt and which are preferably partly cut away or re cessed in such a manner as to be halved together to provide two interlocking hooks by which the two coupling members may be detachably connected w1th each other and so that either of said sleeves is adapted to receive a wrench by which it may be screwed or turned inward from an end of the belt when it is desired to shorten the latter, said wrench being preferably provided with 'a blade or cutter so that simultaneously with such screwing or turning movement of the sleeve the surplus material of the belt will be ared away so as to properly shorten the elt. As the combined wrench and cutter of the present invention is an instrument which is separate from or independent of a coupling member, it may be used with any desired number of such couplings, so that the same wrench and cutter may be used, for ex ample, in a factory for the urpose of adjusting the cou lings of the be ts of a large number of mac es. Moreover, the independent wrench and cutter of the present invention is of such a construction that when the knife or cutter thereof becomes dulled by use it may be readily sharpened so that it will efficiently perform its proper function.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 illustrates a belt cou lin embodying the present invention wit t e two members thereof joined to ether. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of t e same. Fig. 3 is a detail end view of one of the coupling members. Figs. 4 and 5 are plan and side views, respec tively, of acombined wrench and cutter by which one of the couplin members may be turned, Fig. 5 showin the relation of this tool to a coupling member when in use. Fig

6 is a plan view of another form of wrench and cutter which may be used with the improved coupling, and Fig. 7 is a view to illus trate the use of the tool shown in Fig. 6.

Referring to the drawings, a denotesv portions of a round leather belt, onto the ends of which are screwed internally-threaded openended sleeves b, the outer parts of which are cut away or recessed so as to be halved together to provide interlocking hooks c and recesses d on each side of each of said sleeves which are both just alike. Each of thes sleeves is adapted to be turned or screweonto an end of a belt by means of a wrench r havinga circular portion adapted to fit ovc a sleeve, and extending inward on the portion f is a knife or cutter g, at the end or ase of which is a small shoul adapted to come in contact with a we recess (1 for the purpose of screwing the onto the belt, and in so doin the knire cutter g, .which extends inward to or slightly beyond the center of the belt, will pare away the end thereof in a thin shaving, so that the coupling member will be adjusted and t belt simultaneously shortened for the purp of taking up slack or giving the belt any sired tension. The recess intersects belt-receiving chamber of the coupling-sle1 so-that the knife or cutter g extends into sat-u chamber to engage the end of the belt. As

the two coupling members of this form of the invention are just alike, the wrench and cut- Patented Nov. 21, 1905.

ter may be a plied to either when it is desired to shorten t e belt, the two members of the couplingbeing ofcourse unhooked or detached i from each other when a coupling member is thus to be adjusted on the belt.

This 0011- 5 struction affords a flexible coupling which re- J liabl holds to ether when in use, as the materia of the belt, the ends of which are preferably abutted when the coupling members are joined, (see Fig. 2,) serves asa supportin core which revents the members fro, being accidenta y uncou led by holding the hooks in engagement wit 1 each other.

Instead of using the wrench and cutte" BEST AVAILABLE COP down in Figs. 4 and 5 the tooli (shown in Fig.

6) may be used. This tool is provided with an ening 0 of proper shape to closely receive t e partly-cut-away end of a sleeve 6, said oppining having small shoulders m, against oh the end walls of the recessed end portion of the sleeve will abut when the wrench is fitted to the sleeve to screw or turn the latter farther inward on an end of a belt when herein shown are open or unobstructed at their outer ends, a sleeve may by this tool be screwed or turned inward on an end of a belt until the latter projects through and beyond the sleeve, as shown in Fig. 7. The projecting end of the belt may then be cut oil, either, by the blade n, with which the tool 11 is preferably provided, or by another knife or cutting instrument, and the shortened belt may t en be again hooked together for use. In this case where the severed end of the belt is left flush with the outer end of a coupling member the end of the belt in the other couplin member will be so adjusted that the two en s will practically abut to form the proper core for thecoupling to hold the hooked coupling members in engagement with each other,

. so that they will not become accidentally uncoupled when the belt is slackened or is ofi the pulleys.

I do not claim, broadly, inthis application a belt-coupling member comprising an internally-threaded sleeve adapted to be screwed onto an end of a belt, said member being pro- "ed between its ends with a recess or openintersecting the belt-receiving chamber JG'SBid sleeve and adapted to receive a bined wrench and cutter by which the member may be screwed on an end of a elt and the material of the belt be simulta- B- eously ared away for the purpose of shortclaimed in my co ending application, Seria N 0. 241,142, file simultaneously with the present application, the couplin members of the present application being oi equal diameters througheut their entire lengths and having unobstructed open adjacent ends through "which the belts maybe caused to protrude, as

hing t e belt, this subjectmatter being such belt is to be shortened. As the sleeves shown in Fig. 7 of'the'drawings of this application, if desired.

Having thus described, my invention, I

.claim and desire to secure by Letters .Pat-

ent-

1. In a belt-coupling, a coupling member consisting of an internally-threaded, unobstructed open-ended sleeve of equal diameter 7 abut against a wallof said recess, while the cutter will enter the belt-receivin chamber at said recess, so that when said sleeve is turned by the said combined wrench and cutter it may be screwed inward from the end of the belt and the latter be simultaneously pared away. a

2. A be t-coupling comprising two internally-threaded unobstructed open-ended, tubular members which are both recessed or artly cut away at their adjacent ends to ibrm interlocking hooks by which said mem- .bers may be detachably joined together.

3. A belt-coupling comprising two internally-threaded unobstructed open-ended, tubular members which are of equal diameters throughout their lengths and which are both recessed or partly cut away at their adjacent ends, to form interlocking hooks by which said members may be detachably joined together, said tubular members having recesses between the ends of their belt-receiving chambers to adapt the said sleeves to be engaged by a combined wrench and cutter by which either of said sleeves may be screwed inward from an end of a belt, said recesses intersecting the belt-receiving chambers of said sleeves so that the cutter may enter a chamber to are away the belt when a sleeve is turned inward on the end of a belt.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

-JOHN M. GREIST. Witnesses:

HENRY CALVER, C. M. SWEENEY. 

